A Great Day in Harlem (1994)

Art Kane, now deceased, coordinated a group photograph of all the top jazz musicians in NYC in the year 1958, for a piece in Esquire magazine. Just about every jazz musician at the time ... See full summary »

Director:

Jean Bach

Writers:

Jean Bach, Susan Peehl,

Stars:

Dizzy Gillespie, Art Blakey, Milt Hinton

Nominated for 1 Oscar. Another 1 win.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Quincy Jones	...	Himself / Narrator
Dizzy Gillespie	...	Himself
Sonny Rollins	...	Himself
Buck Clayton	...	Himself
Art Blakey	...	Himself
Hank Jones	...	Himself
Art Farmer	...	Himself
Johnny Griffin	...	Himself
Milt Hinton	...	Himself
Chubby Jackson	...	Himself
Scoville Browne	...	Himself
Felix Maxwell	...	Himself
Paula Morris	...	Herself
Taft Jordan Jr.	...	Himself
Everard Powell	...	Himself

Storyline

Art Kane, now deceased, coordinated a group photograph of all the top jazz musicians in NYC in the year 1958, for a piece in Esquire magazine. Just about every jazz musician at the time showed up for the photo shoot which took place in front of a brownstone near the 125th street station. The documentary compiles interviews of many of the musicians in the photograph to talk about the day of the photograph, and it shows film footage taken that day by Milt Hinton and his wife.

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Plot Keywords:

photograph | jazz | esquire magazine | voice over narration | harlem manhattan new york city | 

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Genres:

Documentary | Music

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Details

Official Sites:

Beat Thief Productions Official Site

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

24 February 1995 (USA)

Filming Locations:

Harlem, Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA

Box Office

Gross:

$527,274 (USA)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Flo-Bert Ltd., Jean Bach, New York Foundation for the Arts

Technical Specs

Runtime:

60 min

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Color:

Black and White Color

Did You Know?

Connections

Featured in The 67th Annual Academy Awards (1995)

User Reviews

Best documentary about jazz ever

The best documentary about jazz ever. If you want to know what jazz performers are like, you will learn more from this one hour film than all the hours of Ken Burns' documentary put together. It makes Burns' film insignificant by comparison. Jazz performers shine in this work because Jean Bach is such a skillful interviewer. You can tell the musicians all like her, and since they are always shown talking to the camera, not to her, it comes across as if they all like you, too, the viewer. The film makes you feel very privileged. I own this film and I watch it over and over and never get tired of it. Who could get tired of hanging out for an hour with Dizzy Gillespie, Sonny Rollins, Bud Freeman, Art Farmer, etc. and listening to the excellent narration of Quicy Jones?